Always
by baby blue eyes10
Summary: Because even though for Damon it will always be Elena, for Caroline it will always, always be Damon. *drabble, season-3*
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own it, people of the VD land.

Author's Note: So, this is just a short (very short) little one shot that I wrote at work today. It just came to mind, probably circa season 3, and I wanted to write it down. I've really been into the whole unrequited love of Caroline and Damon lately because I just can't see Damon and Elena. Anyway, take a look, review, and keep an eye out for the Vampire Diaries story (much longer than this) that I'm planning soon.

XOXO

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><p>"Damon, I," Caroline trailed off as Elena entered the store room, looking between where Caroline was standing in the middle of a pool of blood (not hers, not Damon's, some poor soul who thought they were donating to a good cause and not blood-thirsty vampires), her hand reaching out towards Damon, who stood stock-still across the room, fangs still receeding back into the confines of his gums. "It's not what it looks like."<p>

Why did she have to say that? Of course it wasn't what it looked like. If Elena had taken five minutes to assess the situation properly she would see it was _Damon_ with the blood on his hands, _Damon_ with the veiny eyes and sharp teeth,_ Damon _who had torn into the blood bags at her feet. It was _Caroline_ who had pulled him away, _Caroline _who had swung him into the wall so he couldn't gorge himself on unneeded blood, couldn't drown his Stefan sorrows in blood and women.

But Elena wouldn't see that. And Damon wouldn't tell her. Because it was always precious Elena whose feelings mattered most. Always Elena who everyone had to throw their life on the line for. Always Elena who could get the blood-thirsty monsters to recant their evil ways and become a 'better man.' Always. Always. Always.

It was never the blonde, self-centered, manipulative, bubbly, neurotic, caring, self-less control-freak who mattered. Throw her under a bus if it saves Elena, but never choose her first. But to Caroline it was and always would be Damon who mattered most. Damon who she would try to prove that she was worth something. Damon who she would always choose first. And Damon who she would throw herself under the bus for.

So standing in the harsh light next to the stark contrast of the white cooler and crimson blood, Caroline let her face change. Let her fangs break through her skin so fast it hurt. Let her sparkly blue eyes bleed red with the blood lust that was always lurking beneath the surface. And she fell into the pool of another nameless person's blood as Elena plunged the syringe full of liquid vervain into her back.

Because for Damon it would always be Elena, and for Caroline it would always be Damon. And maybe someday he would see that.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own it, but if you mix my initials around they do make TVD.

Author's Note: Okay, so I wasn't planning on doing this…but after the overwhelming response I got for this story I decided, what the hell, I can definitely go on and finish this up with a little bit of Damon's point of view. So, here it is. I hope you all enjoy it and thank you SO much for the reviews from last chapter. It was amazing and made me feel so loved.

XOXO

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><p>It wasn't that he needed the blood. Or that it particularly tasted <em>good<em> out of the little plastic baggies that it was currently contained in. But letting his vampire side take over made him forget about the pain of betrayal. The same pain he'd been living with since he was a human. The same betrayal that put the whole town in danger and left Stefan someone he would never really understand.

He didn't see the little blonde flurry before his back was slamming up against the wall. Feeling his eyes bleed with the force of his feeding, he looked into the blue eyes of his assailant. Little Vampire Barbie currently had her elbow in his neck, pressed close and stifling his breathing as she stood eye-to-eye with his unflinching gaze. But her gaze was just as unmoving and she pressed harder against his trachea as her sad blue eyes bore into his own.

No words were exchanged, but the subtle way she took the blood from his hands was enough to get the message through. _That's enough_, her eyes were saying, _it's all going to be alright._ And then she was stepping away from him, her unreasonably high-heeled boots tracking through the blood that littered the ground next to the ridiculous deep-freeze refrigerator of life. Looking at the blood bag in her hand, then back to him, she opened her mouth, revealing perfectly white and straight teeth. "Damon, I," She trailed off as Saint Elena came barreling through the door, guns blazing and probably completely forgetting the fact that these two were vampires and could tear through her neck in one fail swoop.

Damon opened his mouth slightly, trying to conceal his blood red eyes and sharpened teeth, when Caroline stepped up. "It's not what it looks like." She said to Elena, pleading with the brunette to listen for once before doing something rash. But he didn't know how it wasn't what it looked like. He was covered in blood, which was not his own, and had been feeding relentlessly for the past few days.

Trying to catch Caroline's eye, to let her know he would handle this (she seemed to handle things in the worst ways to get him in the most trouble. _Hello, werewolf bite._), but as he watched her face change, and saw the light in her eye as she watched him from under the harsh light, he saw her take the proverbial bullet for him. Really, it was just Elena with an ever-present vervain dart.

As she fell into the puddle of blood at her feet, Damon thought she looked like an angel with her halo of blonde curls and pale skin in stark contrast of the crimson mess she was laying in. Elena turned back to him, looking harsh and scared against the blonde on the floor, for his help and he slowly moved forward, taking Caroline into his arms and taking her to the cell. As Elena excused herself upstairs to cry, or brood, or moon over his lost brother, he carefully sat Caroline on the ground and felt himself smooth her hair.

While Elena could profess she would leave Stefan, fall for Damon, make him be the better man, Caroline would always like him just how he was, vampire and all. And for Damon in had always been Katherine, or Elena, or Andy, or Rose, or anyone else in the world. But as he took in the stirring vampire on the floor in front of him, who had thrown herself in front of him every time something went wrong, he started to figure that maybe all these brunettes weren't right for him. Maybe it was time he chose a blonde.


End file.
